Pesticides may be a leading cause of major diseases

August 24, 2010 — organicmel

(NaturalNews) Chronic illness is widespread in many industrialized nations like the U.S., and more studies than ever are linking this disease epidemic to pesticide exposure. According to a new database designed to catalog these studies, pesticides are linked to cancer, reproductive dysfunction, diabetes, autism, asthma, birth defects, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases and more.

Beyond Pesticides, an environmental and public health group, decided to put together the Pesticide-Induced Diseases Database to raise awareness about the dangers of pesticides and to urge policy changes to get these chemicals removed from use.

“A read through of the scientific literature on pesticides and major preventable diseases afflicting us in the 21st century suggests that one of the first responses called for is an all out effort to stop using toxic pesticides,” explained Jay Feldmen, executive director of Beyond Pesticides.

The group believes that current risk-assessment methods to determine the safety of chemicals is a failure because it does not look at potential alternatives. Many of the currently-used toxic pesticides have effective green alternatives that are safe, so there is no reason why these are not currently in use, suggests the group.

“Under risk assessment, we constantly play with ‘mitigation measures’ that the Pesticide-Induced Diseases Database tells us over and over is a failed human experiment,” Feldmen further opined.

Beyond Pesticides hopes to see current risk assessment methods replaced by an alternatives assessment approach. Organic systems, for instance, perform far better than many of the high-chemical pesticide systems currently in use, and they do not harm the environment or consumers.

The group has also put together a helpful guide called Organic Food: Eating with a Conscience, which expands upon how and why pesticides are harming life and the environment. This guide can be found at: http://www.beyondpesticides.org/org..

2 Responses to “Pesticides may be a leading cause of major diseases”

I couldn’t agree more with this post. I work for a company called Bio Huma Netics, Inc. that produces and distributes fertilizers and, among other environmental solutions, biopesticides. Before I joined, I knew very little about biopesticides and how they compare with the conventional pesticides that are so commonly used. I feel it is crucial to let others know the dramatic positive change that can be achieved if biopesticides are used.

Biopesticides are certain types of pesticides derived from natural materials such as animals, plants, bacteria, and certain minerals. While both conventional pesticides and biopesticides will have their pros and cons, there are a number of reasons why the application of biopesticides is the more advantageous choice. Biopesticides are usually inherently less toxic than conventional pesticides and affect only the target pests, while “missing” any unrelated pests. This is in deep contrast to conventional pesticides, which may affect very different organisms in addition to the target pest. Biopesticides are often effective in very small quantities and will usually decompose quickly, decreasing the amount of residue that is exposed. Therefore, the pollution problems that result from the use of conventional pesticides are avoided.

In my opinion, biopesticides are a great alternative to the use of conventional pesticides. Understanding the difference between these different types of pesticides is key to making more eco-friendly decisions.